Red Bull Racing has absolutely been dominating the F1 grid for two years in a row now. With six victories out of 8 this season, the drivers and constructors’ champions of 2022 are most likely to defend them in 2023. But, according to Ralf Schumacher, the champions might suffer in the future for what they have done two years back.
Schumacher, the former F1 driver, is of the opinion that Red Bull and the duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are expected to suffer at the hands of Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin over their cost cap breach in 2021.
Admittedly, the Austrian team breached the designated budget cap in the year 2021. And for that, they have been given a monetary punishment of $7,000,000 and a 10% reduction of aerodynamic testing time starting from October 2022.
Despite this, Red Bull has so far been dominating. However, it’ll be interesting to see for how long as the defending champions are already having a blockade in their development and Aston Martin is closing in rapidly.
Red Bull to face tough competition from Aston Martin
The Silverstone-based brigade is the team that has impressed more than any other outfit this season. With Mercedes and Ferrari yet to find the sweet spot and Red Bull in the budget cap punishment dilemma, the Green team has the best chance this season.
From P7 in the Constructors’ championships in 2021 and 2022, they now trail Mercedes by 13 points to P2 in 2023. Apart from that, the AMR23 is regarded as the next-best challenger on the grid after RB-19.
Here is the amount of windtunnel time assigned to each team from 26th of June onwards.
Will the penalty incurred for the breach of the cost cap affect Red Bull? 👇#F1 pic.twitter.com/EtDI0vITjD
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 21, 2023
Speaking on how the Green team is ahead of its competitors and is a direct threat to the Milton-Keynes-based team, Schumacher opened up in a report published by Speedweek.com.
He told Sky Germany, “I currently see Aston Martin a tad ahead of Mercedes with these improvements and believe that Fernando Alonso will be Verstappen’s toughest competitor at the next race at the Red Bull Ring.”
Alonso and Aston Martin are ready to hunt
With all the talks about Aston Martin trying to hunt Red Bull down, it all comes down to one man, Fernando Alonso, who’s eyeing his win number 33.
The Spanish driver has long been waiting for his chance to be on the top spot of the podium. And it is believed the ongoing season might be the best chance Alonso will ever get, thanks to the budget cap penalty of Red Bull.
Furthermore, the upcoming race in Red Bull Ring, the home of Austrian champions, is also regarded as a favorable venue for them to win. This might be the place where the British team will get to showcase their prowess with the huge upgrades they are bringing in for the race.
